Intermezzo

Birmingham for less

not photoshopped

All CBSO-promoted concerts (and a few others too) at Birmingham Symphony Hall are reduced by 25% if you book between 15 and 23 January.

RAAAAAWWWWR!!!!!!!

Mahler 8 in Birmingham

CBSO / Nelsons - Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 16 September 2010

Was it worth travelling all the way to Birmingham and back for just 90 minutes of music? You bet.

The CBSO kicked off their season and their Mahler cycle with the 8th Symphony. A cast of 600 filled the stage and the choir stalls and stretched around the side galleries.

Lohengrin - Andris Nelsons scores victory for Birmingham

Lohengrin - CBSO / Andris Nelsons - Symphony Hall Birmingham, 12 June 2010

Competing in the World Cup is tough enough; competing with it is even harder. But the CBSO managed to fill Symphony Hall for a one-off concert performance of Lohengrin despite the first round challenge from England v.USA.  Scheduling a 90 minute interval to coincide with kick off was one of the evening's most skilful moves. Opera and football touch the same part of the soul; together they make an irresistible team.

CBSO 2010-11 season goes on sale

Every orchestra in the country seems to be doing a Mahler cycle this year, and the CBSO are no exception, with what might turn out to be the best of the lot.

Their 2010-11 season begins with a bang on 16 September when Andris Nelsons conducts the supersized Symphony No.8 (repeated on 18 September). I haven't heard Nelsons' Mahler yet, but how's this for a review, from Hilary Finch in the Times: 

"Birmingham has scarcely been without memorable Mahler experiences in the past couple of decades. Yet this Second Symphony was in a class of its own, surpassing almost every performance of the work in my own living memory".

Later in the year Nelsons conducts No's 5 and 9, and the remainder of the symphonies are shared by Sakari Oramo, Vassily Sinaisky and Jac van Steen. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Kindertotenlieder, and the Mahler cycle rounds off on 12 June 2011 with a visit from Simon Rattle for Das Lied von der Erde, with Magdalena Kožená and Michael Schade.

There's more to life than Mahler of course, and I'm going to be checking out some of Nelsons' other concerts if I can find the time to whizz up to Birmingham. Unlike some of today's younger conductors, Nelsons is emphatically not coasting on charm or enthusiasm, nor is he being overhyped by an industry in search of the next cash cow. He's the real thing, and Birmingham is lucky to have him.

Be warned that the Mahler 8 and the Simon Rattle concert are selling well, so don't leave booking these too late.

There are also a few tickets left for this Saturday's concert performance of Lohengrin, conducted by Nelsons (and featuring Kostas Smoriginas as Schaunard if you believe the website), in case you need to escape the football.

Andris Nelsons and the CBSO in Oxford

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons / Baiba Skride - Sheldonian Theatre Oxford, 5 February 2010

Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre is mainly employed for university lectures and ceremonies but it has hosted plenty of concerts too over its 300+ year history. Handel's oratorio Athalia premiered here in 1733 in front of, reportedly, 3,700 people. There can't have been even a quarter of that number at the CBSO's Friday concert, yet it was still nose-to-tail on the narrow galleried benches, with the orchestra spreading over most of the floor area. Handel's audiences must have been smaller, slimmer and a great deal more tolerant.

The subtleties of Rimsky's orchestration of Musorgsky's Night on the Bare Mountain were smudged in the loud, boomy Sheldonian acoustic. But the CBSO responded to Andris Nelsons's energetic encouragement  - more dancing than conducting, really - with a conviction that made the old warhorse at least tolerable.

Baiba Skride's white-hot solos raised the roof in Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto. A scorching, inspired third movement cadenza capped a technically immaculate and exquisitely judged performance. Andris Nelsons' pacing was intelligent. Physically he gives the impression of unbridled energy, but musically he knows when to hold back and when to let go. This isn't even a work I particularly like or admire, but it was impossible not to be utterly gripped from start to finish.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony couldn't reach the same level of intensity, but all the same it was a delightfully fresh account of an over-familiar work. Despite the clotting acoustics, phrases emerged neatly sculpted and transparently coloured. There were no half-planned ideas and no half-baked playing. The second movement's horn solo was beautifully taken, but the woodwinds were just as impressive, and the CBSO strings have developed a luxurious golden sheen. Again the pacing was immaculate, the delicious lightness of the waltzing third movement allowing Nelsons to avoid bombast in the powerful finale.

The CBSO under Nelsons are just getting better and better. Hopefully they'll turn up at the Proms this year, but if not, it's worth a trip out of London to catch them.

*****   more photos on next page   *****

how much is Andris Nelsons worth?

£7,100 according to Ebay. That was the winning bid for an auction package which included a masterclass with the maestro and the opportunity to conduct the CBSO.